Brewing tips from 15 pour over coffee experts

What better way to learn how to brew an ambrosial cup of pour over coffee than from the experts? If you’ve mastered the basics of your pour over equipment and you’re looking to take your pour over technique to the next level, here is our selection of 15 pour over coffee tips from award-winning baristas and famous coffeehouses around the world.

Chemex

This beautiful classic pour over flask is the most popular with beginners, but is also difficult to master.

“When saturating the grounds and during the bloom, give the coffee a quick stir to make sure the water fully saturates all the grounds. This will ensure even brewing.” – Stumptown Coffee Roasters

“You should pour at such a rate that the complete brew process takes about four minutes.” – Blue Bottle Coffee

‘The water stream from the pouring kettle should be slow enough to fall straight down, not at an angle.” – Intelligentsia Coffee

“Pouring preheat water out of the spout is ineffective. Pour the water from the opposite side – the water will pour through the filter; the spout will provide an air gap. The filter will stay in place.” – Sprudge

Kalita Wave Dripper

“Aim to have all the water in the brewer within 2 minutes and 30 seconds – no longer than 3 minutes and 30 seconds.” – Has Bean Coffee

“You can pour along the rippled edge (of the Wave filter) to re-integrate some of the ‘high-and-dry’ grounds back into the bed.” – Nick Cho, Barista Guild of America

“If you’re making a smaller batch, take care not to add too much water too quickly as you’ll finish before your target time and end up with under extracted coffee. If you’re making a larger batch and you find things are going too slowly, you can add water faster to speed things up.” – Crema Coffee Roasters

“Try and keep your water temperature the same throughout the pouring process. We use Bonavita pouring kettles, and in between pouring, we allow the kettle to take the temp back to our target 96 degrees.” – Five Senses Coffee

Hario V60

Recommended by baristas for those who are just getting into pour over coffees, the V60 allows for easy extraction of flavour.

“Keep the water level within the cone at about two-thirds full.” – Sightglass Coffee

“When blooming the coffee grounds, gently stir the center with a spoon. Do this quickly to ensure an even saturation of the coffee grounds.” – Ritual Coffee Roasters

“If poured and stirred correctly, the grounds should appear to have a mild dome shape.” – Mistobox

“The entire process should take around 3 minutes. If it’s a lot longer or shorter than 3 minutes, you’re gonna have to adjust your grind.” – Verve Coffee Roasters

Bee House

Least common among the pour over methods, the Bee House has its own cult following.

“We prefer to use Melitta filters.” – Prima Coffee Equipment

“I maintain the coffee bed quite low in the brewer. I think this helps with heat retention and more consistent contact with water to grounds.” – Andy Sperger, 2-time US Brewers Cup champion

“After the bloom collapses, begin pouring the rest of the water in a circular motion, and try to maintain the bloom, gradually working your way out from the center during the brewing process.” – PT’s Coffee Roasting Co.

There you have it – 15 pour over coffee tips for various pour over methods, from 15 of the best baristas and coffeehouses around the world.